Part 9 International Cooperation and Judicial Assistance: Coopération Internationale Et Assistance Judiciaire, Art.97 Consultations
This chapter comments on Article 97 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 97 identifies the types of difficulties that may arise with requests for cooperation that require consultation with the Court. The first is insufficient information to execute the request. The second is difficulty in locating the person, a matter relevant to a request for surrender. But a request to locate a person might also concern questioning of an individual or a suspect, and even service of a summons to appear. Finally, article 97 contemplates the possibility that execution of the request might require the requested State to breach a pre-existing treaty obligation. Use of the term ‘pre-existing’ in article 97(c) has nourished arguments to the effect that only treaty obligations adopted prior to entry into force of the Rome Statute may be invoked to resist requests for cooperation.